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STIG: Enforce Account & Password Policy

MediumLinux Security20-30 min
The brief

Bring this host's password policy to the DISA STIG baseline. In /etc/login.defs set a 60-day maximum password age, a 1-day minimum age, and a 7-day change warning. In /etc/security/pwquality.conf require a minimum length of 15 and at least one digit (dcredit -1). Grading reads the policy files the way a SCAP scan does. (Values are the Canonical Ubuntu 22.04 STIG's.)

What you'll do
  • PASS_MAX_DAYS 60 in /etc/login.defs
  • PASS_MIN_DAYS 1 in /etc/login.defs
  • PASS_WARN_AGE 7 in /etc/login.defs
  • minlen >= 15 in /etc/security/pwquality.conf
  • dcredit = -1 in /etc/security/pwquality.conf (require a digit)

Hands-on lab: you work on a real Linux box in your browser, graded on the machine's actual state.